Torn Between
by Anime Butterfly
Summary: Yaiba Surudoi found herself in the presence of the two men she'd been abandoned by, and found herself torn between them. AU and TogaxOCxKaien. M for later chapters
1. New Arrival

~A Vampire Knight Side Story Part I~

Disclaimer: I don't own Vampire Knight or any of its characters ^.^

~Yaiba Surudoi's pov~

I sped along the road in my motorcycle. It was smooth and I loved the feel of my new light green Kawasaki ZX-7RR. As soon as I reached my destination I sped through the large gate and stopped to get the directions out of the bag that I'd securely strapped to the side of my bike. I put the coffee-stained piece of paper back where it belonged and silently sped to the place the directions indicated. Two more lefts and a right.

I came to a stop at my final destination, not caring that I'd taken shortcuts that strayed from the scribbled little map and ended up riding over the neatly cut lawns and not the cobble-stoned pathways. I hopped down from my bike and took off my helmet, shaking my straight jet black hair loose. After putting the helmet on one of the handle bars I pulled my hair up in its usual ponytail and laced one of my boots that had gone undone on the way here.

I silently checked off that I had everything I needed and looked up at the building in front of me. Cross Academy. The school most likely to end up with half of its population drained of blood, but hey, let's put vampires and humans in the same school just for kicks. I sighed at his new philosophy and headed toward the door that supposedly led me up a flight of stairs and then a door at the end of a hallway where my old friend now spent most of his time.

My boots crunched on the grass, tapped along the cobble-stone path to the door, and then I was inside, taking great care not to let my long black leather coat crushed by the closing door. I pulled the other map out of the back pocket of my black jeans and sighed at the childish drawings of students in the hallways and the drawer himself in his office.

But there were no students at this time of the night and I doubted he'd be smiling as widely in the picture when I had to wake the eccentric guy up. I made my way up the stairs and through the corridor down to the maple brown door that I had to eventually find out was locked. A locked door isn't going to keep the children out, much less vampires. I picked the door quickly and let it close with a loud bang behind me.

The desk looked pretty worn out and even looked like it was split in two at one time and there was a cup with a large, scarily pink bunny on it. It had words scrawled below the picture but I didn't take the time to look at it. Where was he? It was pretty hard to believe that he was once the greatest vampire hunter of our generation when he couldn't even give me back up plans/maps if he wasn't here upon my arrival.

I left nothing out of place and left the small office to walk down what looked like the teacher's dorm of the school. It was just a small corridor of rooms and I tried to make out the faded name plates beside the doors. I quickly found his room since it was the closest to his office, but past the master bathroom. I contemplated knocking on the door, but I didn't want to wake up the people in the rooms around his, so I just picked the lock on his door like I did the office and walked right in.

It was nothing but a large bedroom and a closet on one side so it was easy to find the grumbling, sleeping man in the middle of the room scrawled out across his bed in the worst sleeping posture I'd ever seen. Yup, that was definitely him.

Before I could start to wake him up, there was a gruff knock on the door followed by someone entering without waiting for a reply. It was dark and I couldn't see anything except a large figure that froze upon noticing me. The light flicked on and I didn't even have time to see who it was before they lunged at me. I didn't want to hurt the poor fool so I didn't take out my blade guns, or so I liked to call them.

I ducked to trip him but somehow he saw it coming and jumped. Before I could flip back up the barrel of a gun was pointed at my forehead. Okay, so this wasn't just a civilian who happened to come in at the wrong moment.  
"Who are you and why are you trying to kill Kaien Cross?"

I looked up and couldn't help but let a smile spread across my face at who I saw, but the movement made me realize I still had my black mask on from my last mission.  
"Relax Cyclops, it's me," His eyes widened at the old nickname and I pulled down my mask so he could see my face.

"Way to go Catwoman, I almost blew your brains out. Could you not make surprise visits in the middle of the night and break into Cross's room?" I smiled at the old nickname from when I used to use claws as a weapon choice. The leather ensemble however, I kept.  
"Well if Kaien here had been awake when I got here we wouldn't be trying to kill each other," The still sleeping Headmaster grumbled as if in response.

I leaned in close and brushed my lips along his earlobe.  
"Kai, Yai has a gift for you," I whispered into his ear, using the old trick that would eventually-  
"YAIBA!" his eyes had opened and he was now nuzzling up against me.  
"Why didn't you ever wake me up like that?" Toga pouted.  
"I did. You attacked me and I almost ended up clawing your other eye out,"  
"Manhater,"  
"Womanizer,"  
"Yaiba," We both looked down to see Kai still pawing at me, "you said you had a gift,"

A vein popped in my forehead and I hit Kai upside the head.  
"There you go sweetheart, hope you liked it. Would you like more?"  
"Ah, Yai. Why do you forsake me?" Toga and I both rolled our eyes.  
"Because you don't watch where you bury your head sometimes,"  
"Ah! Sorry my little kitten, I'll never do it again," his eyes watered up like a lost puppy but I wasn't falling for it.

I hit him again and this time he yelped a satisfying 'ow'.  
"Yeah, you will. And then you'll get this punishment tenfold,"  
"Aw, come on kitten," Toga pitched in, using the annoying nickname Kai had given me, "it's just male instinct," he pulled me back into him and I elbowed him in the stomach.  
"This is why I hate hanging out with you guys, much less running missions with you. So why did you call me here Kaien?"

He straightened his back and turned serious.  
"There's a new student here who's a female vampire hunter in training-"  
"And you need me to carry out her training? This is one of Toga's kids though. I didn't get training from a woman and I turned out alright," They both looked at each other and then burst out laughing, leaving me to hit them both.  
"Okay, who's the second best vampire hunter at the moment?" They both indicated me, "and who's the best?" Kaien and I looked at Toga.

"See my point? She's better off with this stronger, hard-headed, trigger-happy, womanizing…ugh, fine I'll do it. But only because I'm afraid this guy's going to get arrested for being a pedophile,"  
"Hey, I don't hit on women younger than me," he defended and I gave him that look that said 'oh really?'.  
"Under the age of twenty. Happy now?" he revised and I smiled.

"Well, technically speaking, the best vampire hunter in this room is Kai, but his new pacifism just might kill us all," I nodded, finally agreeing on something with Toga. I looked over at Kaien and almost fell over. He had glasses on and started pulling his hair up.  
"Since when can you not see? And your long hair's so pretty," I strode over to him again and played with his hair, blocking his chances of pulling it up.

Kaien looked at me with the piercing eyes I'd seen long ago when he was still a vampire hunter. When all three of us had hunted together. Those eyes that said he could read my very soul. I could never hold a gaze with him for very long when he had that look.

"Kai," I whispered, barely audible.  
"Yaiba," he said my name. Not Surudoi-san or kitten, but my first name. He'd only said it twice before. Once when I was on the verge of death and second when I'd been completely rejected by him. That was when he'd told me about his past. But that was a long time ago and it didn't take long for Kai to revert back to his oddness.  
"You're so grown up and cute!" he jumped around me in a dance that looked like it could bring rain and Toga ended up holding the man by the back of his collar to stop his silly dance.

Toga looked apologetically at me and I brushed it off.  
"So what am I going to do? Stay here? I'm not a certified teacher like Cyclops here,"  
"Ah, I was just getting to that. You're going to be the new English teacher. I had to erase the memories of my last one and there's a vacancy for the position. Toga teaches Ethics," Kaien answered.

"When in the world did you get the time to learn Ethics?"  
"When Cross gave me a book when I started the job,"  
"So you're just winging it?"  
"I'm teaching them and that's all that counts,"  
"So you're just winging it?" I repeated and he gave up.  
"Yeah, I'm just winging it. What I want to know is if you can even teach in an outfit like that," His eyes raked over my skimpy leather ensemble and I gave him a death glare.

"I was working before this,"  
"I see that," he looked at the two guns strapped to my belt and I covered it with my coat.  
"Since when do you use guns?"  
"They're easier, long range, and have a second trigger that makes a blade come out of the hilt so I can fight up close as well,"  
"You still look like a cat though," He referred to my deep green eyes that looked like cats' eyes. He had tons of jokes asking if I could see in the dark and whatnot, but thankfully he didn't bring that up.

I looked over at the clock on Kaien's beside table and yawned. The small hands said it was 5am meaning I only had two hours to sleep before having to teach English. It wouldn't be a problem since they both knew I could speak and teach eight different languages. Having to travel around the world came in handy after all dad. I hadn't spoken to both my parents ever since I became a vampire hunter ten years ago.

I'd met Kai first when I was sixteen, and then Toga at age nineteen. They were both considerably older than I was but we were the top three vampire hunters in the Association at the time.  
"And now you're an old twenty-three year old who has yet to get laid," Toga scanned my body again, "although I have no idea why,"  
"Lecher. And I wasn't reminiscing,"  
"You were silent for five whole minutes, so yes you were. Now let's go to sleep before it's time for my class today," Apparently he'd noticed the clock and yawned as well.

"Kai, try and get some sleep. And new pajamas," I laughed as I looked at the blue pajamas with red and yellow rocket ships. Toga on the other hand wore everything he usually wore, except his hat was missing.  
"Will do. Get some sleep I mean," he replied as Toga and I walked out the door.  
"Oh, and Surudoi-san?" he yelled after me and I stopped, looking curiously at the Headmaster.  
"Welcome to Cross Academy," he smiled and I returned the favor before closing the door behind me…


	2. Desires

~A Vampire Knight Side Story Part II~

Disclaimer: I don't own Vampire Knight or its characters ^.~

~Yaiba's pov~  
"Mmm, over some,"  
"H-here?"  
"Nnn, yeah, there. Right there,"  
"Y-you sure?"  
"No, uh. Push harder!"

"Damnit woman do you want it here or not?" Toga dropped his side of the bed and doubled over.  
"I'm getting old," he mumbled into a few sheets that had fallen from the bed we were carrying into the empty room. I laughed and dropped down beside him.  
"Yeah, and class is in an hour," I groaned, looking at the clock that told the merciless time.

"I'm going to be too exhausted to teach Ethics,"  
"Oh, come on. You can probably kill fifty level E's straight but you can't carry a bed into a room?"  
"Yes well I didn't have a woman preaching to me on how and which ones I should kill. With you it's all: no I want to put it there. Oh but it's by the window and that's not safe so let's put it here. Oh but that blocks the closet so let's put it here. Oh but that's too close to the bathroom so I want to put it here. Oh wait, you're an inch off, push it left more!" he imitated me and I laughed, completely agreeing with how I was acting.

It was silly really. I don't know why I wanted everything to be perfect but that was how I was raised. Manners and etiquette classes went to waste, piano classes went to waste, ballet classes actually helped in the profession since I needed balance and flexibility, and martial arts classes were perfect. When I said I wanted to become a vampire hunter my parents were shocked. We'd come across a level E who cost my little sister an arm when I couldn't protect her. So I left and now I don't even know what they're doing anymore. They're probably in the news but I don't bother to look anymore.

I looked over to see Toga had fallen asleep, tangled in the bed sheets on the floor, so I snuggled up against him and went to sleep…

I awoke to a slight movement underneath me and the smell of smoke. I looked to see I was clinging onto a very content vampire hunter who had a cigarette fixed in his mouth.  
"Good morning kitten,"  
"Hey, Yogi bear," I yawned and rubbed my eyes like a little girl. Yagari was pretty close to Yogi so I took it. I'd seen the cartoon as a little girl.  
"Nice and warm?"  
"Mhm," I replied sleepily, then jerked awake and looked at the clock. It read 7:30am.

"We're going to be late you idiot! Damn damn damn," I jumped up, threw my leather coat back on, kicked the still sitting Toga, and stole his cigarette, taking a few quick puffs for myself.  
"Hey, my class doesn't start until 7:45 and yours doesn't start until 8:50. We have fifteen minutes to get to my class," He got up and strode over to me, our bodies an inch apart.

He intimidated me to back down but I didn't. After a minute he pulled the blade guns out of my belt and through them behind him, landing on the bed with a soft thud.  
"Don't bring your guns to the day class," he whispered, hands still on my waist, "and that's mine," he finally backed down and took the cigarette from my mouth.

"Since when do you smoke?" he inquired as we both left my room, taking the key from to lock the door behind us.  
"Since I decided I'm probably going to die early so health doesn't really matter. But only on occasion," I added in. I didn't smoke through two packs a day like Toga, just one cancer stick every other day when I was stressed out from the job.

"It's still not good for you," I snorted at his comment as we quickly strode down the corridors in tempo. We reached the classroom just as the late bell rang and I followed him in to watch him teach. The girls in the room started asking Toga if I was his girlfriend and the guys in the room had hearts in their eyes that made me roll mine

"Hmm, she just might," He replied to the girls, and pressed me close to him causing them to squeal.  
"Or I just might kill you," I whispered and hit him, satisfying the jealous guys.  
"Well class, she's your new English teacher, feisty isn't she?" I hit him again, causing him to gruffly cough a little.

"I'm Yaiba Surudoi, please take care of me," I bowed and sat down in a chair next to the side wall. For someone who just started learning ethics himself, he was a pretty good teacher. It was crazy how the girls all fawned over him and the guys glared at him for taking all the attention from the girls. If school was like this before, I sure didn't remember it. Of course, I'd only ever gone through school up to 8th grade before becoming a vampire hunter. Another big factor was that it was a private elite all girls school.

I noticed a girl with long, wavy black hair and crystal blue eyes who Toga called out was Kira when he asked her to answer something. I knew she was the one I'd be teaching from the small blue glint of something concealed under her skirt when she stood up. No one would have seen it except someone skilled to. She had that air around her that only a vampire hunter who'd experienced a tragedy had.

There was also an empty seat and a girl I could immediately identify as Yuki Cross, Kai's adopted daughter. She was the reason Kai had left our group when I'd turned twenty. Toga quickly followed after when I was twenty-one. The girl was around sixteen now, thirteen when she was brought to Cross. The girl had broken our pack and I couldn't really blame her, but I still couldn't let go of Kaien leaving and our little group dispersing afterward.

When she was brought to him, he built the school that someone from his past wanted him to. The one who caused him to turn me down. The one who died, making a hole in his heart that couldn't be filled in no matter how hard I had tried in the past.

I jerked up when the bell had rung and Toga told me the students were all mine now. I started with a few exercises that the guys pretended not to know and need help with and the girls only wanted to know more about Toga. After class I went outside to get my bag off of my bike and bring my things up to my room.

"So how was class?" I should have known Toga would be leaning against my bike when I got there.  
"I couldn't get there attention. It was all: 'What does Yagari-sensei look for in a girl?' and 'What does Surudoi-sensei look for in a guy?'" I replied tiredly.  
"It'll pass,"  
"When?"  
"The couple hundred times they ask and you don't reply," I groaned at the answer and grabbed my bag that was next to him.

He grabbed my hand and took the bag from me, slinging it on his shoulder and walking up to my room. Whatever, it was heavy anyway. We arrived back at my room and I opened the door for him, letting him set the bag down as I took off my coat and threw it on the bed next to my guns.

"I'm going to take a shower," I pulled out the rubber band that held my hair in a ponytail and let my hair fall wispily.  
"Mmm, a shower sounds good," He took off his coat and threw it on mine, he took off his shirt and I gasped. No matter how many times I saw it, it still caused the same reaction.

There were scars on his chest, shoulder, and arms and I'd never dared ask where they came from. He was toned, we both had to be for our job. He pulled off his boots and I pulled off mine, throwing them at him.  
"Go take a shower in your own room,"  
"Why should I when there's a perfectly good one in your room?"  
"You know damn well why you can't take a shower with me you lecher. You can stay and wait for me to get out but if you peek there'll be hell to pay,"

"Yeah, yeah. Go take your shower," he plopped down on the bed and pulled a book out of my bag.  
"'Seduction', that sounds steamy," he teased and opened up the page I'd bookmarked, "she moaned as he flicked his tongue across-"  
"Don't read it out loud dumbass," I ran over and tried to grab the book from his hand.

"Our little kitten has desires," he smirked as he held out the book so that I had to tackle him on the bed to get it.  
"Yeah I do so give me the book back," I argued, finally grabbing the book but being rolled over so he was on top of me.  
"So why don't you ever let anyone help you with that fiery desire of yours? I can kiss, touch, and lick too," he was leaning in. Closer, closer, and I drove my knee up right where it should hurt. He rolled off of me and I jumped up and headed to the bathroom.

"You can kiss my ass, touch yourself, and lick an icy pole for all I care," I yelled as I slammed and locked the bathroom door behind me. I washed my face with cold water, trying to get the heated breath I'd felt as he leaned in out of my mind. When would he stop teasing me? It'd always been this way so why did I care now of all times? Of course Kaien couldn't be here to stop him. So why did I feel completely fine with that?

I looked into the mirror and saw it. I was attracted to the lecher that was Toga Yagari. I hadn't wanted him to stop back there. The more I denied it the more I realized. After five years of knowing Toga why am I attracted to him now? I would have thought that my feelings for Kai would come back, but apparently new feelings were getting to me and I didn't like it.

He was Toga of all people! The perverted, arrogant, trigger-happy, groping, reliable, sexy as hell…the image of him shirtless flashed through my head and I would have shot myself in the head to get it out. Okay, so he was good-looking and reliable but two out of six shouldn't have gotten me to think of him like this. There was no way I was going to let him treat me like the girls I'd seen him with in the past: one night stand then leave.

I could deal with this. If I could deal with killing level E's, I could deal with this. There was no way I was going to let him have me. No matter what. He's was a fellow vampire hunter and that was it. Nothing else. I convinced myself I'd rather die than let him get to me, hoping it would work. But it didn't…


	3. What Good Vampire Hunters Do

~A Vampire Knight Side Story Part III~

Disclaimer: I don't own Vampire Knight or its characters ^.~

~Yaiba Surudoi's pov~  
When I got out of the shower, Toga was gone, but so was the book. Damn, I had pages bookmarked. I'd never hear the end of this. A quick assessment of the room showed that he left his shirt and boots on the floor, obviously intentional. The bastard was running around in the hallways half naked in the iddle of the night reading an erotic book. There was no way he was reading it peacefully in his room. If there was any way to annoy me, Toga would do it.

Strong and cold demeanor my ass. Yeah, he could be professional when he needed to and scare the hell out of the youngsters, but the guy was cocky and playful when he was off duty. At least, in front of Kai and I he was. I kicked a boot across the room out of spite and then dropped onto the bed, not bothering to get a pillow or bury under covers before drifting to sleep...

The first thing I noticed when I woke up was something warm was around me and there was a shocked looking headmaster in mid-spring in my doorway. Things clicked fast as I started to wake up. An arm draped around my waist, an unlocked door, and the time on the clock reading 7:50. The answer was obvious even before I turned my head around to touch noses with a sleeping one-eyed vampire hunter.

The only crucial thing I missed was the breeze on my bare arms and legs. My eyes widened as I sat up as best I could. This could only lead to being the worst possible thing I could've done in this situation. So many things happened at once: (1) The towel wrapped around me slid down to my waist (2) A blushing Kai quickly turned around as I brought an arm up to cover my breasts and (3) Toga decided that this exact moment should be the time he wake up.

"Sorry for disturbing the both of you, but you're late for your class Toga," Kai said and started to walk away.  
"Wait! No, it's completely not what you think!" I yelled to stop him, hearing a mumbled 'unfortunately' from the vampire hunter beside me starting to get up, but still deciding to keep him arm wrapped firmly around my waist.

"Uh, well, after you're fully dressed and after both of your classes, you can come talk to me in my office," I didn't know what the big deal was. These guys had 'accidentally' seen me naked a multitude of times while we were traveling, so why get shy now?  
"You smell amazing. Ten more minutes?" Toga had leaned over, buried his face in my hair for a moment, and then dropped back down on the bed, taking me with him.

"No, definitely not," I replied, fighting the blush that finally started making its way up to my cheeks. I hit him with the arm that wasn't occupied and his grip around my waist only tightened.  
"It's just ten minutes,"  
"Yeah, and if we were still hunting, those ten minutes would've gotten us killed already. Now stop being lazy and get off me," Internally, I was fighting the reactions of his touch. One side of me wanted him to roll on top of me and have his way with me, one wanted me to get on top of him and have _my _way with him, and a very miniscule part of me told me I needed to get as far away from him as possible.

Self control was a very hard thing to accomplish. Maybe if I let go just this once, my completely inappropriate, very surprising, and very overwhelming desire for him would finally recede.  
"In this ten minutes, you have to swear on every fiber of your vampire hunter being, to forget all about it. I'll do the same," Instead of pulling against his arm, I pushed in, sweeping my leg over his side to get on top and straddle him.

The towel still remained around my lower half, and the tiny voice inside my head told me to keep it that way. Other than that, the rest of me gave the go ahead. I leaned down and pushed my lips against his, breathing in something that smelled like a mix of chestnuts and blackberries to drown out the ever present cigarette smell.  
"The door's wide open," he mumbled, surprising me that he even cared.  
"Everyone's in class right now. Screw it," I drug my tongue along his lower lip, begging to see if he tasted like how he smelled.

Hands grabbed my arms and pushed me away, having me fall to the side again. Toga quickly got up, took his boots and shirt, and left. I stayed where I was, wondering what exactly happened. I'd been rejected. I'd been rejected by the guy who'd never rejected anyone until now. My eyes burned, so I closed them and brought my hands up to cover my face. I wasn't going to cry. Vampire hunters never cried. At least the good ones didn't.

It was so very typical. To be rejected by the only two men I'd ever truly known. There was only one explanation as well: I was not, and never would be, attractive. Sure, I may have had the looks, but looks only went so far. Apparently, my personality just didn't cut it. Maybe I was still the spoiled little rich kid at heart, or maybe my vampire hunter training just made me too cold. What other explanation was there? Kaien was still mourning over that pureblood vampire at the time, but what excuse did Toga have?

I did what any good vampire hunter would do, and moved on. I got up, happy to feel that I hadn't shed any tears, and got dressed for class. That was the one thing I was definitely not in the mood for. A bunch of angsty teenagers thinking the world was going to end because such and such broke up with them. Well I wasn't a teenager anymore, and I sure as hell wasn't going to act like one. I sifted through one of my suitcases for my good pack of cigarettes and lit one up as I tugged my long jacket on over my clothes. I put my hair up like usual and locked the door behind me as I left.

When I reached the classroom, there was only ten minutes until it was my class. I walked in, smiled at Toga respectfully, and took another drag on the cigarette before I put it out and lit up a new one. This really was a bad habit, but if I was going to die young anyway, it didn't matter. I sat down and listened to the last few minutes of his lecture. He was pretty good at the job and I had to give him credit for that, but how he pulled it off still eluded me. The bell rang, Toga left, the students left, and I had five minutes to pull myself together. But hey, that's what good vampire hunters did…


	4. Unanswered Questions

~A Vampire Knight Side Story Part IV~

Disclaimer: I don't own Vampire Knight or any of it characters ^.^

~No one's pov~

Vampire hunters did many things. One of these things was going undercover, and Yaiba loved it. Not being who you were did a world of good on the soul. It let you escape from work or emotions or even annoying students. Because on this particular night she wasn't Yaiba Surudoi, the second best vampire hunter in the region, but Claire, the prostitute on her way to an exclusive vampire party. Yes, they had them, and yes, they were very much illegal as much in the vampire world as well as the vampire hunter one. Vampire hunters steered clear of the lower-class vampire games that were played here.

There were three kinds of people at this kind of party: The vampires excluded from the Council, their food, and their toys. Claire was just one of these toys for the night amongst many. From the too-high-heels to the too-short-skirt to the too-tight-top, she was wondering if she could say that three times fast. The make-up was on the verge of overdone and her usually straight hair was falling around her in curls that made her dizzy.

The aristocrats of the vampire world turned a blind eye to this band of cast-outs and Claire wouldn't have it any other way. If you didn't keep an eye on what they were doing, you most definitely wouldn't know what was happening, and you wouldn't know who was attending. What they were doing here wasn't mere gambling or sex. What they were doing here was their idea of fun. What they were doing here was cruel. This was what happened when they turned sick and perverse. This was Ground Zero.

Claire took a glass of…whatever the golden liquid was and set it on one of the tables that were placed in a circle around the arena. There were iron bar railings and the arena itself was far below the actual platform on which she stood. The lighting was dim, red eyes glowing slightly. People were shuffling away from something and she knew the show was starting. The women that were toys' eyes widened at the sight and the food was far too gone to even know what was going on. Claire couldn't look away though. Couldn't look away from this horrid scene that was unfolding. She had to watch until the right moment.

What they dropped into the arena was a Level E, and newly turned by the looks of it. However, the second body that was thrown in was human. A girl of maybe eighteen.  
"Brother, don't do this. What have you done to him?" The voice tried to be strong, but it was trembling out of fear and desperation. The vampires laughed. Claire looked on, feeling nauseous. The Level E hadn't been fed. The girl's older brother was starving. He advanced on her without a second thought.

Yaiba acted quickly, the blade gun miraculously hidden underneath the piece of cloth they called a skirt. She jumped into the arena, shooting on the way down. Two landed, but didn't kill him…it. The Level E turned its attention from the girl and started toward Yaiba. She pulled the other trigger, the blade coming out of the hilt. This would be easy since it was new. It didn't know how to avoid something like this, so as it bared its fangs and snapped at her she quickly swung around and dug the blade into its neck. It turned to dust. She expected the vampires to be angry, but all she heard was their laughter echoing down to her, as if they were happy they got some sort of entertainment anyway.

She snagged the girl and got the hell out of there. Leaving her at one of the Hunters Association's safe houses to be taken care of, she was back on her motorcycle and on her way to Cross Academy once again. She'd only left a note to Kaien, telling him she had business and would be away for a few days, but she didn't tell him where. Ground Zero was one of the most dangerous places in the vampire world, and Kai would have strictly told her no. Her freelancing could have gotten her killed, but at least she saved someone. The Hunters Association would never send a vampire hunter into Ground Zero, seeing as how they weren't Level E's. Even if they knew that the vampires were making them out of amusement. She was beginning to see that the Association was turning corrupt. To let things like this go by unnoticed was unforgivable.

~Yaiba Surudoi's pov~

It wasn't until three in the morning when I finally pulled into my usual spot, donning the leather jacket in my pack and making my way up the building to my room. The one thing I didn't expect was the half-naked woman stumbling out of Toga's room across from mine giggling like an idiot. Well, half-naked if wearing one of his shirts and a pair of short shorts counted. I thought over that and realized how stupid that sounded, mentally erasing it from my head. Why the hell was this woman in the hall at this ungodly hour? Well, sure, a pretty woman coming from Toga's room only meant one thing, but still. Couldn't the woman have stayed the night or something? I couldn't tell if Toga had a great sense of timing or if this was just coincidence.

"So I'll see you tomorrow night?" The giggle at the end instantly gave me a headache.  
"Sure," Toga appeared in the doorway, shirtless and obviously forgetting to button his pants. Grey boxers. Could the guy get any more monochromatic? 'Sure' was his way of saying 'If I feel like it'. The woman finally noticed me and giggled at being caught, then ran down the hall to another room. Did giggling make women feel younger or something? It just made me feel annoyed. Either way, I walked to my door, ignoring the whole scene.

"How was the job?" Of course the guy just had to start a conversation when I was one key turn away from sleep.  
"The usual. Killed a Level E, saved a girl. The whole shebang. Sadly, my night wasn't as nice as yours," I turned around, crossed my arms, and leaned against the door.  
"Very nice," he replied with a chuckle, arm propped on the doorway and a cigarette in his mouth that seemingly appeared from nowhere. "Was it the blade or the bullet that finished it?"  
"Blade to the neck," I replied wearily, really needing the sleep.

"Wait, you only use that tactic on newborn Level E's. I thought this job was assigned to you?" Damn, he caught on. I contemplated telling him, then decided against it.  
"It just wasn't very smart. Good night," I said quickly and turned to go in my room. I was stopped by the slam of his hand on the door, inches away from my head.  
"You're hiding something. Where did you go?" His breath was on the back of my neck. I ignored it and turned around to meet his gaze, defiance in mine.

"We should talk about this in the morning. I'm tired, need a shower, and for the love of everything good I need to be away from you for a while,"  
"I thought that was why you took the assignment. What, not enough distance for you?" Now he was just being an asshole about it.  
"No, it wasn't. This weird attitude of yours is getting on my nerves. Usually you can't wait to hit on me or crack the next joke, and yet now you're being a complete ass and I can't stand it,"  
"Whose fault do you think that is? Do you think I like being used?" he growled. This man was incorrigible.  
"No, I think you love one night stands, which is what I offered you. A one night stand Toga. Damnit just let me get some sleep and we can talk about everything in the morning. Good night," I said frustratingly, finally retreating back into the room for some peace and quiet.

**...xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx...**

Obviously, that wasn't the end of it. I found myself standing in Kai's office with the man himself and a perturbed vampire hunter. How could he be in a foul mood after his night with that teacher? I found out that the teacher was a stand-in for my position as their English teacher while I was away. At least I wouldn't have to deal with awkwardly bumping into her in the hallway or having to hear that annoying giggle again. But of course, his foul mood was directed toward me. I let part of my hair escape past my right ear so it could block his infuriated gaze. Damn, the guy didn't even know why I was gone yet. Some higher power should be prayed to for when he finally did, but I didn't really know which. Kai was in serious mode. His hair was down but his glasses were still on. For some unknown reason, I couldn't help but to find that sexy. His gaze was so intense. Not necessarily mad, but a look that said 'I'm going to find out what happened no matter what it takes'. Well, if he was that dead-set on finding out, why not just go ahead and spill?

"I went to Ground Zero as a prostitute. Mind you, I didn't actually do any of what the job entailed, but I did leave with quite a bang," I smiled a little at that even though I could practically feel their shock.  
"Ground Zero is strictly prohibited. What were you doing there?" Kai demanded. I knew he wasn't speaking with his Headmaster authority, but that of a top vampire hunter kind. He could have easily been the Head of the Hunters Association with that kind of easily calm authority. Again, I had no idea why that was so attractive. It felt like I was a school girl getting reprimanded by the teacher I had a major crush on, and if I was lucky, he'd spank me. Believe me, it wasn't a fetish, just an appealing thought. Quickly taking my head out of the very wrong gutter, I collected my thoughts once again.

"Kai, you have no idea what they were doing in that place," I argued lightly.  
"Enlighten me," When his breath whispered across my face softly, I found that I was leaning over the desk toward him. How or when that happened, I had no idea, but I heard Toga clear his throat loudly. Why the hell should he care? If he was uncomfortable he could get the hell out. He was right though. Now was not the time to be making obvious come-ons toward Kai, however unconsciously made they may have been. I distanced myself from the desk again.  
"They made a Level E, then kidnapped its sister for it to eat," His eyebrows furrowed out of disgust and deep thought. I heard Toga's feet shuffle as he stopped leaning on the wall and came to attention.

"Are you sure?" Toga asked gruffly. So something like this could shock him after all.  
"No, I decided to screw with you guys because I'm bored and have nothing better to do," My voice was dripping with sarcasm and he glared at me. "Yes, Toga, the bad men are still doing bad things to good people. It shocks me too." Sarcasm again. I don't know why I was in such a mood to tease him, but it was probably because of the fact he was still in asshole mode.  
"Yaiba," Kai warned, out of his desk and already near where we were standing. It shut me up. I still wasn't used to him calling me that. From the flash of pain I almost missed in his eyes, I could tell he wasn't having an easy time calling me that either. He probably felt as much pain from the memories as I did.

_A blade glinted out of the corner of my eyes as gunshot was heard in the distance. There was ringing in my ears that almost drowned out those sounds of fighting. Unbearable stabbing pain came from the middle of my chest. I could smell the burning of wood as part of the forest lit up to my left. Heat emanated off the nearest tree, scalding the left side of my body. Thankfully, I was free from the smoke as I lay on the ground._

"_Surudoi-san!" I turned my head back to the right to see that Cross had finished with the group of Level E's and was running toward me. Cross had always been serious. I had never seen him smile or cry, and the man coming toward me was doing neither. I'd always seen his lack of emotion as a bad thing. He wasn't crying, but you could see the sadness written on his face. He stayed calm though as he approached me, swiftly taking out the things he'd be needing to patch me up until a medic could make it. It was obvious that I couldn't stay here with the fire coming so quickly, but he mended me with calm precision._

"_Cross, go," were about the only words I could really choke out. If he stayed with me, he'd burn with me. The vampire hunter's most elite couldn't take a chance like this. At that moment, he looked straight in my eyes with such pain, determination, and defiance that I'd be speechless if I wasn't already._

"_I'm not leaving you behind," I closed my eyes to let a tear go at such sweet words, but I think he thought I was giving up. He leaned in and kissed my forehead. "Stay with me Yaiba." The actions and words were purely for a partner and friend he felt he was about to lose, but meant so much more for me. I knew I'd stay with him even if I had to kill Death itself._

I still had the scar, though you had to look closely to see the slight discoloration of skin. Kai shared a look with me that held deep meaning. We were both thinking of the same memory, both remembering how we thought we were going to lose the other that night. Him, losing a friend, and me, losing a love. Toga might as well have been dust for all the attention we gave him in that moment. He must have felt that way too because he left without another word.  
"I'll inform the Hunters Association to see if they'll do anything about it. I can't guarantee anything though. You know that Ground Zero is off limits and you might even be at risk of losing your vampire hunter status," he said, turning away from me to sit down at his desk again, the moment between us lost.  
"You know I don't care. Something like that needs to be stopped. I don't care if they're lower-class vampires, they might as well be Level E's for committing such a crime," He nodded, agreeing, but gave me another look and I knew exactly what he was thinking, because I was thinking the same thing. "We need to know which pureblood is supporting such a monstrosity." I decided to say it aloud, because it needed to be. Any vampire hunter knew that only purebloods could change humans. The real question was why a pureblood would want to associate with such low-class degenerates.

"Kai, about what you walked in on the other day," I said sheepishly, thinking that now would be as good a time as any to try and explain.  
"No. If you and Toga want to be together, it's fine. Technically, you aren't real teachers so the rules don't apply. However, if a student were to walk-in-"  
"They would have thought the same thing you did: that we were together. That's not true though," I replied, cutting him off.  
"Then why was he in your room, and you were…lacking clothes?"  
"I swear we didn't do anything. Well, _he _didn't do anything," I said, shame obvious in my voice and actions as I looked down. "I had forgotten to lock my door after I'd taken a shower that night so he must have crept back in and decided my bed was a better sleeping place than his. But to tell the whole truth, I came on to him when you left." I looked anywhere but Kai. Revealing something like this to the man I'd previously loved wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world.

"You came on to him? Are you sure it wasn't the other way around? I need to know what happened Suru- Yaiba," He'd almost called me 'Surudoi-san' again.  
"Let's see. I felt lonely, he was attractive, I straddled him, I kissed him, he pushed me off, and he left. So don't worry, it was only one-sided. You can be rest assured that all men who come into contact with me will eventually reject me," Even I could hear how cold I sounded at that last statement. I ran my fingers through my hair that I'd decided to keep down today, letting some of it cover half of my face. I still hadn't looked back at Kai, so it surprised me when I felt his hand brush my shoulder. When had he gotten so close? I expected him to say something, but he kept silent. His other hand tucked my hair behind my ear and out of my face, then brushed through, stopping halfway down the strands. He lifted my hair up to his face and kissed it, eyes closed and glasses discarded somewhere. The hand I hadn't been paying attention to was at the small of my back, lightly pushing me toward him to which I quickly obliged.

"I'm sorry," I could barely hear what he had said, but it rang loud and clear. He buried his head in my neck, lips brushing my skin lightly, making me shiver. "I'm sorry," he whispered once again. He lifted his head, eyes holding mine for a moment. "I'm sorry," Lifting his head slightly higher while gently maneuvering mine with his hand at my neck, he kissed my forehead. "Yaiba." I seriously had to strain my hearing to hear the name that left his lips. He pulled away from me, gently caressed my cheek with his hand, and left the office, the door clicking slightly as it closed. What in the world was that supposed to mean? What was he so sorry for? Why didn't he explain before he left? Well hell, leave it to these guys to completely blow my mind away with unanswered questions…

**~Writer's Note~  
Yay! This is the longest part I've ever written, and I think it may be my best XP Whew, so there we have it...a bunch of questions that even I don't know the answer to yet ^.^ Lol, but I'll figure it out...somehow ^.~ All will be revealed in due time ^.^ But for now...off to finish the next part to my LxOC before fangirls come at me armed with pitchforks XP**

**Shadowsnow: Thanks so much for reviewing! ^.^ Lol, I'm glad you liked that scene...though it was kinda sad to write in the part where he walks out Y.Y And yeah, I personally would like to see their relationship develop but as you can see...all is not well at the moment. I felt kinda bad about writing him off to be a mean person in this one, but we had to make room for Kaien somewhere. Lol, Kaien can't just be pushed out of the way...he's too cool for that XP And hmm...Toga might turn out that way in later chapters, but not for now. This time he's here to help bring to light how much history Yaiba and Kaien have. Whew...I know that's a long reply to your review but I couldn't help it...you're my first reviewer so you should get a long reply ^.^ So again, thank you for reviewing ^.^**


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